stupidity

Respect isn’t free

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Fifteen years ago, almost to the day, scientist and later president of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam gave a speech about his visions for India. His speech included:

If we are not free, no one will respect us.

 

(With apologies for misusing this quote), professional photographers should remember the opposite:

“No one will respect us if we are free.”

 

Two months ago, a friend and fellow photographer contacted one of his regular clients here in Toronto about a (then) upcoming assignment in Europe. The client was thrilled the photographer was available to go. But after consulting head office, the client found out that they didn’t have a budget to send a photographer. Instead, they were going to hire a local freelancer in Europe.
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How not to run a photo business

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Many photographers struggle with their pricing. This is normal. The best way for a photographer to establish their business is to understand how their business operates and, for that matter, how any (photography) business operates.

The photographer learns to price according to their location, their business plans and their market positioning. This takes time and effort and, yes, mistakes will be made along the way.

And then there are photographers who like to take shortcuts.

I got a phone call today from someone claiming to be an office manager. She said they needed some business portraits. She asked how much I charged, how the pictures would be shot, whether I use softboxes or umbrellas, what type of backgrounds are best, how the photos are selected, what amount of retouching I would do, and how the pictures would be delivered. After I answered all her questions, she suddenly hung up.
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Failing a class

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It’s not even necessary to read the news story. The picture says it all.

In a Grade 2 class photo, all the students are grouped together in the centre. Except one. A student in a wheelchair is off to the side. The child’s father said he cried when he saw the photo.

The picture is not just thoughtless, it’s also bad photography. It shows how not to do a group photo. It shows what happens when a photographer doesn’t know what they’re doing. It shows what happens when a photographer or school portrait company, in this case, Lifetouch, is too busy being fast and cheap.

Lifetouch says, “Our school photographers take their role in preserving memories seriously” and “Our school photographers are committed to making each child feel special and valued.” It seems the company failed this class.
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Bad Driving

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A Montreal photographer last week did an assignment for The Globe and Mail about an Olympic athlete and the car she drives. The athlete lives in Laval, Quebec, and she happens to drive a BMW Mini vehicle.

A Laval BMW Mini dealership saw the story and contacted the photographer to ask permission to use the picture for its Facebook marketing. The luxury car dealer offered the photographer a credit line.

Instead, the photographer asked for a nominal $150.

The car dealership refused and then just took the photo from the newspaper’s web site and reused it without any credit line.
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Air Ball

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Last year, Ranaan Katz, a minority co-owner of the NBA’s current championship team the Miami Heat filed a lawsuit against a blogger who was critical of Katz’ commercial real estate business.

Two weeks ago, Katz filed a copyright infringement suit against the same blogger for publishing an unflattering picture of him. The photo was apparently taken while Katz was standing courtside at a Miami Heat game. He’s also suing Google for refusing to remove the photo from the Web.

Katz is claiming that he owns the copyright to the picture without any further proof.
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Annual report failure

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Here’s another example of corporate stupidity caused by the shortsighted desire to save a buck.

Earlier today, I was looking through the 2010 annual report from Ontario’s Toronto-based Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). The 2011 annual report is not yet available.

The annual report contains one business portrait of its chairman and one of its president. All the other executives, managers and employees shown in the other photos are fake. None of those people work for this agency. The offices shown in those pictures are also fake.
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That’s not cricket

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Here’s an example of what happens when an organization cuts corners and goes cheap. The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants is promoting its Toronto cricket tournament which benefits school cricket teams. Good for them.

But by looking at the promotional poster for the event, it’s painfully obvious that the organizers didn’t bother to hire a professional photographer or designer. Is this poster supposed to be taken seriously or is it meant as a joke?
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